> I assume that conventional medicine has misunderstood its role, I'm not sure that I can think of anything that conventional medicine doesn't misunderstand. [[Hypothyroidism]] increases [[inflammation]] and decreases [[kidney]] function; even protective antioxidants can become problems in themselves under some circumstances. Ferritin binds iron, and while it's bound it is less likely to produce random free radical damage. If there is [[inflammation]] in the liver or bone marrow, the [[inflammation]] can cause iron to be released, and ferritin apparently acts as a buffer, absorbing the released iron. > [IRON RICH FOODS WITH ORANGE JUICE, COFFEE & [[MILK]]] Although orange juice would tend to increase iron absorption, that combination hasn't been studied. It isn't an issue for most people, only someone with an iron overload issue. The copper in oysters is protective against iron excess. > [Proline/[[Gelatin]] and iron absorption] The tradition of adding either [[milk]] or lemon to [[tea]] has been known to protect against the tannins, by reducing reactivity in the case of lemon, or by combination in the cup with the [[milk]] protein (as defense against the carcinogenic tannins). > [All the studies i have seen claims that Heme iron absorption is not changed by other factors like [[tea]] and coffee. Do you know of any [[study]] that shows coffee inhibiting heme iron absorption? I found this [[study]] showing beef liver has 13 percent heme iron and beef meat has 64 % heme iron. If this is true then muscle meat is more harmful than liver in terms of iron absorption . [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19475341](https://archive.ph/o/OJZkW/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19475341)] I think that's true, that coffee affects mainly non-heme iron absorption. The heme has toxic effects, forming carbon monoxide, apart from the iron. As I understand it, the amount of non-heme iron that's absorbed increases with the extent of its reduction, with ferrous iron being absorbed much more than the ferric form. The presence of reductants in the food will increase absorption. [(Reference)](https://archive.ph/o/OJZkW/https://raypeatforum.com/community/threads/ray-peat-email-advice-depository.1035/page-5%23post-24323) > [Iron supplementation] As long as your hemoglobin is o.k., I wouldn't use an iron supplement, because so many things can influence the amount of iron in the blood, even when there's enough in the liver and marrow. Have you been getting enough copper and other trace minerals in your diet? Including shellfish (oysters have a lot of iron as well as other trace minerals) and liver in your diet would be the safe way to increase your iron and hemoglobin. Did you have your hormones measured? High cortisol can reduce the amount of iron in the blood while increasing it in the liver. > [Mechanism of iron's inhibitory effect] Too much iron, especially in the reduced form, activates a variety of harmful stress reactions. < See also [#Bloodtests](https://archive.ph/OJZkW#Bloodtests). >